Mom of injured infant gets new hearing date

MANCHESTER - The mother of a baby girl who was injured on Christmas Day, allegedly by the mother's boyfriend, appeared in Circuit Court-Manchester District Division for a deferred sentence hearing on a May 25 assault.

Crystal Carter, 23, who was living at 159 S. Main St., when she was arrested May 25 for punching her then boyfriend several times in the upper body and face, was charged with simple assault and ordered to appear in court May 29 and released on $1,000 personal recognizance bail.

When she failed to appear, an arrest warrant was issued and she was arrested and arraigned June 27 and bail was set at $1,000 cash/surety.

Carter was able to reach a negotiated agreement with prosecutors and was given a deferred six-month sentence in the House of Corrections, which would be suspended for two years if she completed a domestic violence evaluation and followed all recommendations.

She was required to return to court Dec. 28 to show she had completed the conditions, but at her scheduled deferred sentence hearing Friday, Carter told Judge Lawrence MacLeod that she hadn't completed the domestic violence requirements because her baby was born prematurely and had to stay in the neonatal intensive care unit for weeks.

Carter asked for an additional six months to complete the requirements, saying they mandated she attend a session once a week for six months. A new hearing date was set for June 28, 2013.

Carter's current boyfriend, Brian Reeves, 33, with whom she was living at 284 Spruce St. at the time her daughter was injured, was charged with second-degree assault and arraigned in Circuit Court Dec. 26. Bail was set at $15,000 cash/surety and a probable cause hearing was set for Jan. 9.

Court documents show Reeves told police he was awakened by the baby's crying and when she wouldn't stop, he went over to her crib and slapped her on the face.

Carter told police she was out with a friend and when Reeves called her and said the baby had fallen and hit her head, she called 911 and told them to send EMS to her Spruce Street address.

Police said the baby had a visible red mark on her face in the ambulance at Spruce Street and later, at Elliot Hospital, she had a large bruise on the right side of her face and her right eye was swollen.